What is Digg?109 Comments
- MikeonTV, on 10/19/2007, -9/+96Damn. I wouldn't have gotten in 100 years ago either.
- abid786, on 10/10/2007, -3/+45The Algebra and geometry portions are really easy. The English is a little difficut though.
- DiggsOnlyNeoCon, on 10/10/2007, -2/+44Does it appear to anyone else that every single portrait of an 1860s American man looks the same?
- redfox2600, on 10/10/2007, -2/+30MIT server killed after 137 diggs?
- RogerT1, on 10/10/2007, -2/+26What did you expect? Their server is from 1869...
- NoOneButMe, on 10/10/2007, -6/+28Dont suppose there's a more modern test to compare it to? Nothing in here was overly difficult (I'd forgotten most of the proofs for geometry and didnt recognize all the names, but i remember learning most/all of this in HS..)
- canewediggit, on 10/10/2007, -3/+24wtf did you expect, e-papyrus?
- spilk, on 10/10/2007, -3/+18math is hard. let's go shopping!
- abandonedhero, on 10/10/2007, -3/+18I thought it was diffcult* too.
- zachshmack, on 10/19/2007, -5/+20Ass
- sully213, on 10/10/2007, -2/+16D-I-F-F-I-C-U-L-T
- KibibyteBrain, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14In fact, most HS math students looking to go into engineering/science/math these days could learn quite a bit more than this. This only covers up though Algebra 2 concepts at the most on the math side, and even not that far into the course if I remember correctly. Today, many high schools have a "college algebra" class that integrates Algebra 2, Trig and "Algebra 3" concepts.(basically, those concepts thought in community college and some university programs) And most offer at least a pre-calculus program if not an AP calculus up through first year college calculus. If you are lucky enough to live in a richer school district like I was, you can even take Calculus 3, Discrete Math, and Differential equations in your high school, and students do. Even some of these brilliant kids can't get into MIT these days, so the competition is much higher.
This reminds me of a math professor in a summer calculus 3 program I took showing us the Final Exams from 1965 for calculus 3 from our school. They seemed impossibly difficult, but he made it clear to us that he'd shown them to alumni who took them and tests that we take now, and the alumni had the same response with our test. The key is that the concentrations of teaching in a class change over time. The fact is, much of the math that engineers especially use today did not even exist until slightly later than 1869, so we have come a long way in a century in terms of fundamentals of science and math. - seanwyx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11Remember, no calculators for the Algebra, Geometry, and Arithmetic sections.
- ilikevag, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12Square root, if you can't figure that out I don't think that you should be saying they are easy, especially since you couldn't have solved it without knowing.
- OneLess, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I love the second question on the second part of the English portion: "Who _is_ Count Bismarck?"
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8That's the worst adaptation of a Soviet Russia joke I've ever seen.
- dezmo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8everyone?
- Namco, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8They should add an IT Infrastructure and Scalability section to the exam... cause I couldn't even get in to view the goddam tests.
- JasonDJ, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Teacher, can I use my calculator on this exam??
- timjbart, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7From 1876 paper,
"We buy cloth by the yard: What unit of measure should we use if the metric system were adopted"
Good to see you've made progress there, America. - jj9000, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5In Soviet Russia, joke ***** up you!!
- SuckMyDigg, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Holy crap I could actually do the algebra stuff in my head! I haven't done any of that for 5 or 6 years... I don't think I could even get 1 question on a new test right...
- cambob76, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I used to do that math. Now, years later, I have a job and I feel pretty re-un-educated. It must be nature's way.
- arjung, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5did you try the english section? if "not that hard" means you know the path of the danube, then i am very impressed...
- Cerpin_Taxt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5it's an engineering/science school
- Scottievm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4root
- johnnykash, on 10/10/2007, -3/+6@illusionweaver - the check marks = square root
- andy3109, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5aaaaaand..its down.
- KibibyteBrain, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3It was one. Now MIT has a rather diverse curriculum, even though their Engineering programs still stand out nationally. They actually have a renowned Economics program.
- filefly, on 10/10/2007, -3/+6Difficult*
LOL, abandonedhero, you too? ;-) - ch33sehead, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Test without a score? It's an ENTRANCE EXAM. Apparently you have to pass it to get into MIT. So I would say that you definitely would get a score on it.
- GeneralKickass, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3If only I was 64 years older, I could have taken that exam.
- indiephoenix, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Passable literacy and plenty of money?
- Namco, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5So have you been lurking for awhile and just joined digg to comment on this story? Or is DrPelham a pretentious alter-ego?
- KibibyteBrain, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5Yeah, something happened to English teaching in America. A Japanese Culture professor at my school made his class take the English portion of an entrance examination for Tokyo University(Japan's most prestigious university), and no one passed it, not even our professor who had a Ph.D in a humanities subject. Sure, this is Japan's top school and students study to take this test for YEARS.(Japanese high school is based upon preparing students to take the test, thats it) But the fact is, the number of students who apply to Tokyo University who didn't grow up knowing mostly only Japanese until middle school would be negligible.
For those of you thinking that we must be idiots for failing, mind you, the test went over English from many usage periods. It would present a line of Shakespearian poetry and ask for a grammatical error or the like. As useless as it was, I still think if the Japanese could educate their kids to master english grammar to that extend in a few years, we could do a better job in the USA. - noumuon, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4i'll give you one billion dollars for a calculator that can give the proofs to the geometry section...
- bromanct, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3go play halo
- pdxuser, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I know, I was thinking, "uh, the really early part." The middle of the night on August 1. 12:00:23.333 AM. Apparently they mean 7 / 803520 of a 31-day month, though.
- orca94, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Not really considering standard mathematical notation has probably changed a bit since 1869.
- S1ngular1ty1, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I agree, that English test was pretty dumb. Why should remembering useless facts be a factor in determining your knowledge of English?
- Vexion, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3The Arithmetic exam mentions selling a house and lot for $5,790. I'm pretty sure refuting that claim is the hidden question.
- anthropocentric, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4"Can we use calculators?"
- Antibland, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'm going to Temple.
- victorh86, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3owned
- ZenMojo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Good thing they didn't have an economics section, you'd fail once they got to inflation. :P
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I don't know about the English test (I don't know most of the answers, but it would depend on the curriculum of the time), but the math tests are much easier than what you would have to know to get into MIT today. Looks like average 11th grade material to me.
- noumuon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2... not really. did you look at the notation? looks pretty basic to me...√
- crossmr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Maybe his name is Douglas Richard? my first two initials are Mr.
- pdxuser, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Note to women and non-whites: don't waste your time, just look at the photo. You do not pass the test.
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